Saddle for a horse



April 28, 1964 M: B. FOREMAN SADDLE FOR A HORSE Filed Feb. 11, 1963 IN VEN TOR. f/Pnm/z/ United States Patent 3,130,530 SADDLE FOR A HORSE Monte B. Foreman, Longmont, Colo. (Star Rte., Elbert, Colo.) Filed Feb. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 257,516 1 Claim. (CI. 5446) This invention relates to saddles for horses and more particularly to means for adjustably mounting stirrup fenders on a horse saddle.

Western type saddles are provided with relatively wide, fiat, smooth leather fenders extending downwardly from the saddle to the stirrups to provide protective pads to both prevent the legs of the rider from contacting and rubbing against the various saddle elements and to improve the ornamental appearance of the saddle. The conventional tenders are fixedly connected to the saddle tree at their upper extremities and are adjustably connected to the stirrups at their lower extremities.

With this type of mounting the tenders remain vertically stationary and all stirrup length adjustments are made by adjusting the stirrup straps to raise the stirrup toward the fender or lower the stirrup from the fender. The latter procedure requires the fenders to be made exceedingly short to accommodate short adjustments for shortlegged riders such as children and, when a long adjust ment is made for a long-legged rider, the stirrups hang below the fenders so that the latter lose their leg protective value and create an awkward, ludicrous appearance.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a saddle with means for quickly, easily and conveniently adjusting the connection between the tenders and the saddle so that the fenders can be quickly and easily lowered when the stirrup straps are lengthened and quickly and easily raised when the stirrup straps are shortened so that the relation between the stirrups and the fenders will remain constant at all adjustments of the stirrups.

Other objects are to provide simple, positive and quickly adjusted means for attaching stirrup-supporting fenders to the saddle so that, if desired, a stirrup length adjustment can be quickly and easily made through the medium of the fenders without it being necessary to adjust straps or buckles.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the descripition.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a saddle in place showing, in broken line, the position of the fender adjusting means of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view with the saddle covering layers cut away to expose the saddle tree and its relation to the fender adjusting means;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross section of the saddle and adjusting means taken on the line 33, FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an adjusting clip as employed in the fender adjusting means of this invention.

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The elements of a conventional saddle are designated by numeral as follows: wooden saddle tree 10, medial tree opening 12, saddle horn 13, tree sheath 14, seat leather 15, saddle pad 16, stirrups 17, stirrup straps 18, stirrup strap buckle 19 and fenders 20. The fenders 20 are relatively wide and provide smooth unobstructed contact surfaces for the legs of the rider. The lower extremities of the fenders, indicated at 21, are narrowed and pass into the stirrups 17. In some types of saddles the lower extremities 21 of the fenders are passed through the stirrups then turned upwardly terminating at the stirrup strap buckles 19 which adjustably secure them to the stirrup straps 18 to provide a length adjustment for the stirrups. In other types, the stirrups are suspended from stirrup straps positioned behind the fenders.

This invention is applicable to either type saddle and provides means at the upper extremities of the fenders for adjusting them upwardly and downwardly relative to the saddle.

In applying the new means, a fender strap 22 is formed on, or attached to, the upper extremity of each of the fenders 20. The fender straps 22 are passed upwardly beneath the seat leather 15, looped downwardly through the tree opening 12, thence, extended outwardly and downwardly from beneath the tree, over the seat pad 16 behind the fenders 20. In other words, the fender straps are simply hooked over the sides of the saddle tree at each side of the medial tree opening 12.

The downwardly depending extremities of the fender straps 22 are prevented from Withdrawal by means of adjusting clips 23 illustrated in FIG. 4. The adjusting clips consist of elongated strips of metal having relatively short, up-turned angle extremities 24. The up-turned angle extremity 24 of each clip extends substantially at right angles to the plane of the clip and has a smooth rounded upper edge 26.

The downwardly turned extremities of the fender straps 22 are punched to provide a vertical series of horizontally elongated, spaced-apart clip holes 26 for receiving the extremities 24 of the clips 23.

In use, the fender straps 22 are adjusted relative to the saddle tree to provide the desired stirrup length. One of the clips 23 is then positioned against the back side of each fender strap with its angle extremity extending through the clip hole 26 immediately below the lower side edge of the saddle tree 10. When in place, the clips depend downwardly from their angle extremities and the latter extend suflicient far through the straps 22 to engage the saddle tree to prevent upward movement of the extremities of the fender straps, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The saddle pad 16 presses tightly against the clips when in use so that accidental displacement of the clips is prevented.

To adjust a fender upwardly or downwardly, it is only necessary to lift the saddle leather 15 and the fender 20 to expose the extremity of the fender strap 22, as indicated in FIG. 2. The clip 23 can then be removed and repositioned in another clip hole 26 to provide the desired adjustment. The rounded upper extremity 25 in the extremity 24 of the clip 23 facilitates reinsertion in the clip holes 26.

While a specific form of the invention has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A saddle comprising: a saddle tree having a medial opening; a seat leather covering said saddle and said opening; a saddle pad positioned below said saddle and said opening; a fender positioned at each side of said saddle tree; a fender strap secured to and extending upwardly from each fender and passing inwardly beneath said seat leather over the sides of said tree thence downwardly. through said opening theme outwardly below said tree over said saddle pad; and a clip member adjustably mounted on the outwardly extending portions of said fender straps and projecting upwardly therefrom into engagement with said tree to resist upward movement of the latter portions and downward movement of said fenders.

Lohr Sept. 27, 1904 Ernst et al. Feb. 5, 1929 

